PMI Global Insights

So! It's been Day 3 and I'm writing this blog post from Berlin Tegel Airport where I'm sitting down before my plane leaves for my return flight to Amsterdam. To try and sum up the final day of the conference is really difficult! It's a mixture of sadness and tiredness as I've met so many fantastic people and those who I would still love to collaborate with in future.

This morning I managed to catch a quick coffee with some of the attendees of the conference whilst we chatted about the upcoming day and what we were most looking forward to. There seems to be an ongoing theme of: innovation and improving to keep competitive' from the people that I'm talking to as there is such a motivation to keep working out the best way forward in a landscape of ever changing requirements and technical situations.

I decided to attend the session called: "Delivering real value in Business consulting projects - the agile way" as I was hoping that I could gain some insights into the best way to manage complex projects. The speaker (Maciej Kaniewski) gave us a lot of interesting titbits of information. One of the biggest takeaways that i had was the importance of value and making sure that we're constantly looking at where that value is being delivered.

One of the interesting things that I took from this presentation was the "octopus" mentality and as you'll see from the picture below. The definition of what it means and what you need to do to make sure that you're keeping on top of everything.

The important thing for me from this is that you need to remember the different 'tentacles' and not just favour one specific method of communicating or working with your clients.

After this session, I had to leave the conference but I'm sure that my other volunteer counterparts will be able to give you more information about the day and what the closing keynote was like.

My next blog post will go into a summary of the conference and what I found the most important aspects to take from it.

Did you feel like you were attending the conference through us? Could we have done anything different/better? Please let me know!

It's Day 2 of the conference and it's been really fun to network and meet other colleagues today.

I spent the morning in: "Winning Well. Becoming a more strategic Project Manager". This session started in the best way possible... by blowing bubbles! The presenters were really engaging and really made us think very hard about what we were doing to improve and becoming more strategic. There were a lot of good take-a-ways from this presentation including: “One good expectations management conversation prevents 14 “Why didn’t you” conversations "

After another fantastic lunch, it was time for me to present! I presented a topic called: Dude, where's my control? Transitioning from Project Manager to Scrum Master. This was my first time presenting at PMI EMEA so it was definitely nerve wrecking but I've received some very good feedback about it and hopefully people found it useful and were able to take things away from the presentation. Due to the number of questions that I was asked after the session, I unfortunately missed the final session of the day as I felt it was more important to make sure that everyone's questions was answered. I've been requested by a few people to do a follow up and i'll speak to the team at projectmanagement.com to see if we can make that a reality!

The day ended well with another fantastic opportunity to network with peers during the Happy Hour. I was really pleased to be able to see and speak to so many interesting peers and getting to hear so many interesting experiences and fully understanding what we need to do to become more innovative in today's world.

Day 3 will be the final day of the conference and i'll be attending the morning session before rushing off to the airport so make sure that you're following Karthik and Priya for the latest updates and information!

Don't forget to follow: #PMIEMEA18 and the Twitter accounts to make sure that you're seeing the latest information and what we're doing!

Wow. Just wow. The first day of the PMI EMEA conference has definitely not disappointed!

It started with an inspiring introduction speech and keynote from Rowan Gibson about how important it is that we keep and have an innovative mindset. I think that this set a really good precedent for the conference and made sure that we were starting the conference with the same passionate footprints.

One of the best things so far has been networking and meeting other Project Managers during the break and lunch sessions. It's been fun meeting Project Managers from all over EMEA but also to see where we have our common (innovative) goals. I think that this is going to be a great few days based on just the people that I have met so far!

My favourite session of the day so far has been: "Mindfully achieving Cognitive Readiness to Manage in Changing, Complex Projects". Not only was the Presenter really great and engaging but we were able to immediately use some of the tips and had a stop for a mid session "Mindfulness session". It was really nice to take a moment to really be "in the moment".

I'm tweeting the conference at: @Em_The_PM so feel free to follow me for the latest updates of what i'm doing.

NOTE: There may be a few pictures of cake and food ;-)

#PMIEMEA18 is coming up very soon and there are a lot of preparations going on in advance. As someone who will be speaking at the conference for the first time, I'm really excited to be able to present my topic to the audience but I'm also extremely excited to be presenting alongside some absolutely fantastic speakers and knowledgeable experts there!

I'll also be there as part of the Social Media crew helping to bring the conference to those who are unable to be there in person. I'll be sharing my personal experience and highlights from the sessions that I'll be attending and allowing you to follow the conference online.

Before you come to Berlin:

Make sure that you've read through the entire conference schedule so that you've got an idea of what you're looking to attend. I'd also recommend bringing enough Business cards to share out with people at the networking events. 

Monday:

• If you're a first-time attendee to PMI conferences then I can highly recommend that you attend the "The first time attendee orientation", It'll be a great help to understand how the conference works and how to make the most out of your conference.
• The Keynotes are always a great way to kick off the conference and this year looks no different! Rowan Gibson gives a great talk about: Winning the Innovation Economy and the mindset that we need to adopt for being innovative.
• I'll then head to: How emotions can impact your success as a PMP. This is a topic that I think that a lot of us can learn from and it'll be something that you'll be able to apply immediately after the conference.
• After lunch, I'm planning to go to: Augmented Project Management. Why Less is more when facing complexity in projects. I think that this topic will give some key takeaways for a wide variety of Project Managers.
• The next session I’ll be going to attend is a personal favourite topic of mine: Better your Project Management techniques via Lean Six Sigma. I really love learning about Six Sigma and how it can be applied to existing Project Management techniques.
• The last session of the day will definitely be one to keep you on your feet! Agile droplets in a waterfall world will aim to show you when and how agile practices could be applied to your projects /environment.

The conference doesn’t end there. Please don’t forget to check out the evening networking opportunities. The evening events are not only a great way for you to mingle with your other Project Management counterparts but they’ll also be a great way to learn more about Berlin’s fascinating history!

Tuesday:

Tuesday is going to be a packed day but it'll be a busy one for sure!

• I'm really excited about the Offsite learning experience at the Berlin Brandenburg Airport. I've been following this project for several years and it'll be a project where there is a lot to learn from.
• After lunch, I’ll be presenting a topic called: Dude, where’s my control? Transitioning from a Project Manager to a Scrum Master. This is a great session if you’re thinking of becoming a Scrum Master or alternatively if you’re going through a transition yourself.
• The next session for me will be: Tips and techniques for managing those difficult project stakeholders. Dana Brownlee is a really fantastic speaker and I can’t wait to hear her thoughts on this!
• Happy Hour is an hour that you should definitely NOT miss. This is a great opportunity to network with your colleagues and wind down from an intense day of presentations.

Wednesday:

Wednesday morning kicks off and it’ll be a packed final day of the main #PMIEMEA18 conference!

• The first session I’ll be looking to attend will be: Delivering real value in Business consulting projects – the agile way. I’m really interested in how Project Managers can deliver real value and seeing if they can do this in an agile way.
• Wednesday afternoon will continue with some more strong topics! Fabiola Maisonnier will be talking about: Signs of Leadership: are you change resilient and emotionally mature? I think these sorts of presentations that will help others to increase their leadership skills and social awareness are going to be some of the more valuable sessions for attendees to attend.
• The closing keynote will give you a lot to think about. Inma Martinez will be presenting a topic called: Developing creative approaches to Artificial Intelligence  in the workplace  in the times of accelerated digitalisation. One reason why I think that this is so critical is because it brings the importance of the future of our profession to the forefront of our minds and shows us that we cannot avoid thinking and planning for the future.

#PMIEMEA18 has a packed program that will definitely give you the advantage. It’ll give you the tools to develop your skills and broaden your mindset. Moreover, it’ll give you the opportunity to meet other Project Management colleagues and enable you to widen your network.

So, which sessions are you looking forward to?

It's been a week since #PMIcon17 started and it's been a time to reflect on a few things that were really visible to me during the conference that I think is valuable to share with the wider community.

1. Volunteering: A really valuable way to connect with others and give back to the community is through Volunteering. Either with your local chapter or with other professional organisations.
2. Talent Management: It's vitally important to understand your own worth in your organisation and also as a Project Manager. Make sure that you understand what you're worth and also where you can still develop as a Project Manager.
3. Innovation: Be innovative, be a 'bar raiser', 'thought provoker', 'change maker' and be this not just for one day, but constantly. Analyse what you're doing and what you can do better. What can your organisation do better? Are you thinking about how Project Management could be better?
4. Collaboration: As Project Managers we can be stronger within the community if we collaborate together to give more knowledge to each other. Are you collaborating enough?
5. Generational Project Management: Project Managers seem to have a longer more valuable shelf life than other industries and roles. During the conference, there was a great combination of younger Project Managers just starting their career with other more seasoned Project Managers who had so much knowledge and information to share. As an organisation and industry we need to be aware of this and work on sharing this knowledge together.

Personally, I felt that the Conference not only highlighted the opportunities that we have as Project Managers to learn and develop as stronger Project Managers but also showing the possibilities that are available in the PM world to contribute and grow.

What next?

Where will I be going from now? I'll be continuing to connect with everyone that I met to make sure that we can continue collaborating and sharing knowledge. I'll also be making sure that my 'contribution' to the Project Management industry remains involved, active and giving back just as much as I have been learning!

What will your contribution be? How can we collaborate together?